Almost every article written about Angela Merkel’s tenure as
Germany’s chancellor notes that one of her greatest political strengths has
been that she is so often underestimated. In this, she is not unique: Helmut
Kohl, who launched Merkel into politics and spent even more time in the
chancellor’s office, once declared, “I make my living by being underestimated.”
اضافة اعلان
There are many differences between Merkel and Kohl — she
came from a Protestant family in communist East Germany, he from the Catholic
Rhineland; she was a serious scientist before entering politics, he a
politician almost from the get-go. But it is a reflection on modern German
politics, and on Germany’s place in the world, that through more than 30
tumultuous years — years in which Germany and the world were radically
reordered — the country was led by two conservative leaders who made a virtue
of being decidedly uncharismatic in style, demeanor and speech.
This may be in part because Germany’s Nazi past
has discouraged demagoguery, passion, and self-aggrandizement in politics.
Whatever the reason, it has worked for Germany. Though Kohl exited from
politics under the cloud of a political-funding scandal — an exit for which
Merkel, his erstwhile protégée, gave him the final push — the world has
assigned him a firm place in history as a statesman who played a central role
in the peaceful reunification of Germany and Europe.
Merkel, widely regarded as the real leader of Europe and as
the most powerful woman on earth, is already gathering even greater laurels. To
be sure, serious questions continue to hover over her tightfisted approach in
the eurozone debt crisis, her refusal to scuttle the Nord Stream 2 pipeline
from Russia, Germany’s continued reluctance to raise its military spending and
her failure to take serious measures against the rise of authoritarian
populists in Central Europe.
But when millions of Syrians began fleeing their war-ravaged
land for the safety of Europe, Merkel refused to close the doors. “Wir schaffen
das” — the German equivalent of Barack Obama’s “Yes we can” — was her
characteristically colorless way of countering fears of the wave of
asylum-seekers, a phrase that became a sort of motto for her leadership.
There will be many more assessments of her 16-year reign
after the elections Sunday that will determine her successor, and of what
follows, and many will focus on the uncertainties facing German and European politics
in the post-Merkel era.
Yet in a time when the US’ democracy seems paralyzed by
profound polarization, when elected leaders in many Western democracies are
held in disdain and autocrats are on the rise, there might be value in also
looking at what it is that has enabled Merkel to enjoy consistently strong
approval ratings and for Germany to enjoy a high degree of prosperity and
political harmony under her stewardship.
Part of it is the genuine political skill concealed behind
Merkel’s lack of interest in the trappings of power. But pity those who have
mistaken her blandness for weakness, or her quiet for lack of calculation.
Friends say that in private she has a sharp sense of humor.
She does her homework with a scientist’s dispassionate focus before
negotiations or meetings, and she never flinched before the crude macho antics
of adversaries like Vladimir Putin or Donald Trump.
After Putin, knowing that Merkel fears dogs, deliberately
summoned his black Lab into the room where they were meeting, she offered a
biting explanation: “I understand why he has to do this — to prove he’s a man.
He’s afraid of his own weakness.”
That is one of Merkel’s very few quotable quotes, but that’s
not for lack of things to say. A few years ago she explained in an interview
that she simply never believed that “a person can touch other people so much
with words that they change their minds.” Accordingly, she has always focused
more on actions than words. She almost never gives interviews to foreign news
outlets, and those she gives the German media are rarely exciting. She has
never supplied the tabloids with even a hint of scandal.
These traits of honesty, modesty, discipline, persistence,
and reserve would seem almost quaint elsewhere, but when someone facing almost
insurmountable political odds — as a woman, an East German and a scientist —
rises to the pinnacle of German power and stays there for four terms, there’s
something for America and other democracies, where decent people are
increasingly shunning politics, to learn and emulate.
Merkel’s tenure has not been not flawless, and the Germany
she bequeaths to the next chancellor, who may not be known for weeks, will
continue to bob warily in a world of perpetual crises. Her real legacy is the
evidence that effective politics need not mean shedding humanity or
steadfastness, and that being underestimated may be the true key to political
longevity.
Read more Opinion and Analysis
.jpg)
.jpg)
